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Blast kills at least 100 Syrian evacuees

At least 100 people were killed Saturday when a blast in southern Aleppo hit buses ferrying Syrians evacuated from two besieged regime-held towns, a civil defense official said.

"When the civil defense forces were transferred to the scene, they removed more than 100 bodies. Most of the deaths are made up of women and children," Ammar al- Selmo, the head of the civil defense rescue service, told Anadolu Agency.

He said civil defense units received a blast report at 4 p.m. (1300GMT) local time, adding that at least 40 people had been injured in the incident.

Earlier, Turkey’s Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) field coordinator, Mehmet Suayip Altun, told Anadolu Agency tens of people had been killed in the explosion which hit an evacuation convoy in Aleppo’s Ramuse district.

"The people were transferred to nearby hospitals by ambulances, pickups and all kinds of vehicles. Of course, the [population] exchange has stopped," Altun said.

The exchange agreement, hammered out between the Bashar al-Assad regime and opposition forces on March 30, called for the evacuation of thousands of civilians and fighters from besieged parts of Syria.

While casualty figures for Saturday’s incident have not yet appeared, Turkish officials in the southern border province of Hatay said 19 injured people had been taken to hospitals in Turkey.

The security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more ambulances were transferred to the Cilvegozu border gate in Hatay's Reyhanli district.